Jaime J Coon

Earlham College · Biology & Environmental Sustainability

Non-native grasses used as forage for domestic livestock can negatively impact ecosystem services provided by grasslands. In the U.S., most grazed grasslands are privately owned so the introduction and reduction of non-native grasses are both driven by landowner behavior. Yet, the social factors that shape non-native grass management are rarely exp...

Invasive grasses reduce habitat quality for multiple taxa and can negatively impact forage quality for livestock. Large-scale experimental studies are needed to inform more effective grassland restoration that is grounded in practice. To this end, we studied the control of a common but highly invasive cool-season grass using a landscape-scale exper...

Invasive grasses reduce native plant diversity in North America's tallgrass prairies and are commonly controlled using herbicide followed by seeding of native plants. Despite the long-term development of plant communities after seeding, evaluations of restoration outcomes rarely exceed 2 yr. Further, plant community development may be influenced by...

LGBTQ+ individuals face unique barriers to participation in ecology. Such barriers are particularly relevant during fieldwork, including physical and discriminatory risks, increased isolation and noninclusive infrastructure. To make science and fieldwork more accessible to LGBTQ+ people, we must consider safety and survival needs along with persona...

With increasing attention to climate change and biodiversity loss, conservation social science research on land management practices is burgeoning. Researchers have broadened their focus from protected areas to diverse types of land management to support conservation and climate mitigation. But, developing effective strategies for these issues requ...

Science has a history of excluding marginalized groups, including people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and other marginalized gender and sexual identities (LGBTQ+), and recent calls urge the wildlife sciences to address disparities. Literature on inclusion in the life sciences generally has focused on personal affirmation and has ne...

The omission of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, and expansive minoritized sexual and gender identities (hereafter, LGBTQ+) from demographic data collection in science is a critical issue. Ignoring these identities perpetuates practices that drive people out of science, erase experiences, and discount systemic barriers navigated by L...

Forced copulations are a type of sexual coercion that typically occurs when the fitness interests of males and females are in conflict. Forced copulations are rare in most species of birds, and there are only a few reports in passerine species. Here we report the first published observation of an immature Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus ma...

Diversifying curricula is of increasing interest in higher education, including in ecology and evolution and allied fields. Yet, many educators may not know where to start. Here we provide a framework for meeting standard curriculum goals while enacting anti‐racist and anti‐colonial syllabi that is grounded in the development of a sustainable netwo...

This report was put together by a class of 12 students in a class called ENSU 353: Environmental Application at Earlham College. The intention was to create a comprehensive and collaborative report about Cope Environmental Center. Cope Environmental Center is an educational space spanning over 130 acres of restored land, including the only certifie...

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and other marginalized gender and sexual identities (LGBTQ+) face unique barriers to participation in the sciences rooted in cis-heteronormativity and heterosexism. We need to expand conversations on LGBTQ+ advocacy in science beyond personal beliefs and actions, and toward the recognition of structural and soc...

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and other marginalized gender and sexual identities (LGBTQ+) face unique barriers to participation in applied ecology. Such barriers are particularly relevant during fieldwork, including physical and discriminatory risks, increased isolation, and non-inclusive infrastructure.To be more inclusive, fieldwork shou...

Ecological restoration is the process of repairing ecosystems that have been degraded by human activity. Because success depends upon the support of communities, engaging with the cultural values held by local people is critical to the restoration process. Cultural values are closely held beliefs about what is important to local communities, ground...

Tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) is a widespread invasive grass in the U.S. that degrades habitat quality for biodiversity. Herbicide followed by seeding of native plants reduces tall fescue and is predicted to restore habitat quality over time, but little is known about short‐term (1‐2 year) impacts on native species. We conducted a landscap...

Surveys of a general population have been a mainstay of leisure and recreation research methods. This study assesses the impact of two different pre-incentives on eliciting a survey response. Two counties with large federal prairie restoration projects and active municipal and county park districts were the study sites. Results show that residents...

Animals are predicted to prefer high-quality over low-quality habitats, but adaptive habitat selection is less straightforward than often assumed. Preferences may improve only specific fitness metrics at particular spatial scales, with variation across time or between sexes. Preferences sometimes even reduce fitness. We investigated the context spe...

Biological invasions are a form of global change threatening biodiversity, ecosystem stability, and human health, and cost government agencies billions of dollars in remediation and eradication programs. Attempts to eradicate introduced species are most successful when detection of newly established populations occurs early in the invasion process....

An understanding of private landowner's perceptions can guide decisions about conservation in rural landscapes. However, mailed surveys that evaluate landowner views are increasingly plagued by falling response rates and nonresponse bias. Using survey data from research conducted in the Midwestern United States in 2007 and 2017, we adapted a framew...

To advance the dialogue to define sustainable working landscapes, it is essential to include the perceptions, knowledge, and factors guiding decision making. We surveyed livestock producers in the Grand River Grasslands region of southern Iowa and northern Missouri, United States, to gain insight into key factors shaping decision making and perspec...

In some landscapes, effective conservation of wildlife habitat requires extending beyond the boundaries of reserves and addressing stewardship of private lands. This approach could be especially valuable for the conservation of farm ponds, which are abundant and serve key agricultural functions on private lands. Though farm ponds also provide wildl...

Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) is a Eurasian forage grass extensively planted in the United States. However, an endophytic fungus in tall fescue, Epichloë coenophiala, causes health problems in cattle. We predicted that cattle prefer to graze alternative forages when available. We also predicted that cattle use tall fescue more intensively in re...

Context Humans have altered grasslands in recent decades through crop conversion, woody encroachment, and plant invasions. Concurrently, grassland birds have experienced range-wide declines. Studies have reported effects of plant invasions and land conversion on nest ecology, but few have assessed relative impacts of these changes. Objectives We c...

The Grand River Grasslands (GRG) is a 62,000-ha conservation priority area found in Ringgold County, Iowa and Harrison County, Missouri. This rolling working landscape consists primarily of diversified livestock and crop production. These agricultural systems drive management decisions and affect the grassland ecosystems in a variety of ways. To be...

Brood reduction by parents via infanticide is considered rare in passerine birds; however, this behavior may be underreported because of the difficulties observing behaviors at the nest and because researchers tend to attribute partial nestling loss to other causes. Here, we report a confirmed incidence of parental infanticide by Dickcissels (Spiza...

Understanding how invasive plants affect biodiversity is a crucial conservation need. Numerous studies examine impacts of invasions on birds, but trends in these effects have not been synthesized. We reviewed 128 studies from North America to quantify the frequency of positive, negative, and neutral (non-significant) effects of invasive plants on a...

Behavioral research on food preferences in rehabilitation settings can optimize resources and increase the effectiveness of a rehabilitation organization. We tested the food preference of red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus) at the Wildlife Recovery Association in Shepherd , Michigan, USA. We hypothesized that hawks prefer small, dark mice similar...

Adaptability is crucial to life on earth, providing an avenue for populations to change when environments change. Anthropomorphic disturbance, including climate change, is altering and often destroying habitats at a faster rate than ever before. However, evolution may be a potential mitigating factor in these scenarios. Can microevolution respond t...